Transfer window deadline: who got it wrong?

So the deals have been done and the new signings will have bid farewell to their old teams, but have the Premier League teams utilised the transfer window fully?

Friday night saw the clock tick down to the 11pm cut off point and a number of clubs were still searching for a last minute deal, with mixed success.

Not every team got what they wanted, which can also be said of many fans, and GMF will go through the top teams to assess their business and who they missed out on.

Chelsea

Roberto di Matteo’s side spent the deadline day evening getting tormented by Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao, but Roman Abramovich’s shopping appeared to be over by then. Michael Essien left on loan to Real Madrid and an experienced replacement for the injury prone Ghanaian may have been wise.

The UEFA Super Cup defeat was a wake-up call for the Blues and illustrated the fact that organisation is a huge issue for their defence when John Terry is absent.

Fernando Torres has no real challenger for the centre forward role and reports of negotiations with Marseille over Loic Remy would have been welcomed by many Blues supporters, but nothing came of it. It is a risky move to not recruit cover for the Spain striker as, despite good recent form, the last 18 months showed hoe he can go missing for long periods.

Manchester United

While Sir Alex Ferguson managed to sign the best striker in the Premier League in Robin van Persie, there are concerns over whether it was the recruitment the squad really needed. A combative defensive midfielder to work alongside the more creative Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick would have been a useful acquisition.

Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra is reportedly negotiating a loan deal with Russian big spenders Anzhi Makhachkala – the former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder may have been a goo addition to the Old Trafford squad.

There were also questions over the defence after Carrick was forced to play the first two games of the season at centre-back, but injuries made that a necessity and, once fit, United have one of the most solid back lines in the league.

Arsenal

As the clocked edged towards the 11pm deadline on Friday, Gunners fans watched on in complete disbelief as Arsene Wenger proceeded to sign nobody whatsoever. The Frenchman’s said a replacement would be signed after selling Alex Song to Barcelona but, other than being linked with a loan move for Michael Essien, no deals were forthcoming.

Arsenal have looked short up front since the sale of their captain to Manchester United and it may have been wise to find another challenger to Olivier Giroud other than Moroccan flop Marouane Chamakh. Fulham’s American midfielder Clint Dempsey was available and would have been a good addition to the squad.

Players such as Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky returning from injury was the rationalisation for a lack of business but the failure to replace Song may come back to haunt them, though Mikel Arteta has done a fine job in his stead so far.

Liverpool

Brendan Rodgers spoke many times of the work the Anfield club were doing to bring in more attacking options, but nothing materialised in the end. Clint Dempsey was heavily tipped to move north, but a reported unwillingness to meet Fulham’s asking price meant the deal never happened.

The failure to seal that deal was felt even harder by the fact that Andy Carroll was allowed to leave for West Ham and the lack of goals being scored from a decent number of chances. Rodgers may now be forced to move for a free agent like Michael Owen to solve what has become a big problem for his side.

The Reds have also looked short in the central defensive area; age appears to be catching up on Jamie Carragher and Sebastian Coates’ lack of experience mean an injury to Daniel Agger or Martin Skrtel could prove to be a serious problem.

Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs chairman Daniel levy was a busy man on deadline day, but it is unclear yet as to whether the business he completed was successful or not. A lack of striking options was the worry before and the permanent signing of Emmanuel Adebayor went some way to rectifying this, though Andre Villas-Boas is still only left with the Togolese and Jermain Defoe as natural strikers.

Perhaps that was the reasoning for making a very late move to sign Clint Dempsey, as the American is a danger going forward, while Mousa Dembele was originally a striker. The pervading question around White Hart Lane was whether Levy would be able to find an adequate replacement for Luka Modric.

It remains to be seen if Dembele or other new boy Gylfi Sigurdsson can fill the creative void, but it was always going to be a difficult task to do so. Defence is also an area of concern at Spurs, with captain Michael Dawson told he could leave and Younes Kaboul suffering serious injury, Villas-Boas was left with limited options. Dawson stayed eventually, but it will be interesting to see if the knowledge that he is surplus to requirements affects his form.

Manchester City

The champions failed to strengthen any positions effectively, if you believe manager Roberto Mancini, but the squad they have did not need a great deal added to it. Though striking options may well have been improved with the form of a number of players questionable.

Defence may be more of an issue, with Stefan Savic being quietly moved on after an uninspiring first season in the Premier League; he was part of the deal to that brought young Serbian international Matija Nastasic from Fiorentina. It is replacing inexperience with inexperience and you can still see the Citizens being vulnerable at the back if they lose captain Vincent Kompany to injury or suspension.

What areas do you think the top teams failed to cover sufficiently?

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